On July 6, 1941, the Western Front of the Soviet Red Army had fully begun its retreat. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

According to the plan of the Supreme Command of the Soviet Army, the first to retreat was the 10th Army of the Western Front. This army group, since the outbreak of the Soviet-German war on June 22, has been stationed in the vicinity of Bialystok (present-day Poland) to fight head-on against the main forces of the German 4th and 9th armies.

But this force, while the main German forces were resisting, gradually fell into the semi-encirclement of the German army. The German 3rd Panzer Group, commanded by General Hort, had circled to the north of the Soviet 10th Army, and the 2nd Panzer Group, commanded by Guderian, had also occupied the area on the southern flank of the 10th Army.

Under these circumstances, the 10th Army faced a great danger of resisting both frontal attacks by the two German armies, as well as a potential north-south flanking attack from the German 2nd and 3rd Panzer Clusters.

In order to avoid the encirclement of this army group, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Red Army quickly approved the proposal for the withdrawal of the 10th Army. The 10th Army, having received the order to retreat, immediately began to retreat.

As for the other two armies of the Western Front (the Third and Fourth Armies), they were also ordered to retreat shortly after, but while retreating, they were also responsible for ensuring the security of the northern and southern flanks of the Western Front and avoiding the Germans from flanking.

To this end, they deployed a number of mechanized units, which were responsible for covering the rest of the troops on the flanks.

At the same time, the German 46th Motorized Corps, under the command of Lieutenant General Heinrich von Vikinghoff, advanced in three directions towards the Wavkavisk area.

This armored corps, deployed in the area of Pruzane in southern Belarus, was responsible for attacking the southern flank of the Soviet Western Front, destroying as many Soviet troops as possible and closing the encirclement of the Western Front.

Although the 46th Motorized Army had only 3 divisions, it was not inferior to a Soviet army group in terms of combat capabilities.

In terms of numbers, the strength of this Panzer Corps is not much different from that of other German Panzer Corps, and it is also the establishment of two motorized infantry divisions and one tank division, with a strength of about 5-60,000 people and more than 200 tanks.

But in terms of combat qualities, almost no unit could be compared with the 46th Panzer Army. Because, two of the most elite divisions of the German Army, the Wehrmacht "Greater Germany" Division and the 2nd SS Division (also known as the legendary "Reich" Division), were incorporated into the 46th Motorized Army.

As described in the previous chapters, this motorized infantry division would only absorb the best soldiers of the German army, and only the best of the best could serve in this unit.

The 2nd SS Division (Reich) was another ace unit in Hitler's hands. This ace division, which had participated in the Western Front and the Balkan Campaign, fought thousands of miles, and was found on the battlefields from the Netherlands to France, from Bulgaria to Yugoslavia.

From the morning of 6 July, the two ace divisions, under the command of Lieutenant General Heinrich von Vikinghofer, commander of the 46th Army, began to advance northward.

It was a bright morning, and the fierce sunlight illuminated the metal surface of the German tank, and the German emblem of the Iron Cross and the large "G" (Guderian) painted on the surface of the armor were faintly visible.

"Report to the chief, according to the latest intelligence, the main armored forces of the enemy army have appeared in our rear and are now advancing on our side!"

When Lieutenant General Heinrich von Vikinghoff, commander of the German 46th Panzer Corps, heard the report, he immediately showed a look of surprise: "How many troops? ”

"We don't know the exact strength, but there are at least three armored divisions and one mechanized corps."

"Three armored divisions? How can it be? General Vikinghof never expected that a mechanized corps would suddenly appear behind him.

In Vikinghoff's impression, the Soviet army was an under-armed army. The Soviet Western Front, which he had encountered before, was facing the problem of insufficient troops most of the time, so in a short period of time, it was repulsed by the German Army Group Center, which had an absolute advantage in strength.

It's just that what he is encountering now is not the lack of troops, only 26 divisions of the Western Front, but the Southwest Front, which has sufficient troops and 59 divisions under its jurisdiction.

After the completion of Operation Suvorov, the Southwestern Front succeeded in weakening the main armored forces of the German Army Group South, forcing Army Group South to switch from offensive to defensive, and freeing up more troops for itself to support the retreat of the Western Front.

"General von Vikinghofer, our reconnaissance planes did spot a large number of enemy armored forces at one point in Motoli. They are advancing to the north and have now reached the strip 18 kilometers west of Pinsk. "The staff officer of the Vikinghof truthfully reported what he had.

"These are three Soviet tank divisions! Instead of three tank companies, how did they find their traces now? "Vikinghoff was not satisfied with the performance of the reconnaissance unit, such a large Soviet army, consisting of three tank divisions, should not be difficult to find. What's more, the Soviet army invested not just three tank divisions this time, but four!

"They marched at night and were well camouflaged, and last night our airfield happened to be attacked by the Soviet Air Force, and the reconnaissance planes could not be dispatched at all, so they were not spotted."

"What about our scouts? And what about our reconnaissance troops? What do they do? Now suddenly three tank divisions of the Soviet army appeared, how did we not find out? Vikinghoff scolded loudly.

"We didn't expect the Southwestern Front to make a move now, so we didn't send many scouts into the dense forests of the south."

Vikinghof shook his head and ordered: "Order the whole army to stop advancing and have the right to deal with the attack of the Soviet tank division!" (To be continued.) )